Tuesday, August 30 - later

We have power. Yeah!

We are all more than grateful for our good fortune in this part of Florida. I have heard from several Ivan survivors, that Ivan is next to nothing compared to Katrina and what New Orleans and Mississippi are facing.

I have to give great thanks and appreciation to Gulf Power. Not that anyone in MN cares about our power company but yesterday afternoon there were about 120,000 people without power. They got a late start in the afternoon yesterday and worked until dark (with curfews and the dangers, they really don't work at night, not sure if that is typical of all power companies or not) and by nightfall had restored 40,000 people.

Today they felt pretty sure that the remaining 80,000 would be close to restored. I don't know what caused the outages, but it wasn't from a lot of debris so the problems were apparently easier for them to resolve. We had our power restored between 5 and 5:30 this afternoon.

I am guessing they will eventually head over to LA and Miss. (I think I confuse Miss. and Missouri's avbbreviations so I will use Miss.). It is too hard to go there yet with the roads out and all of the flooding. I-10 is closed in several places between Tallahassee and New Orleans. That is like sporadically closing 35W from Rochester to Duluth - but place larger cities all along it. There is Pensacola (not a major city - more like Rochester) Mobile (pronounced Mo-beel), Biloxi, and New Orleans for the major cities with several others in between.

The alternate routes aren't much better if they are open at all. I think our local sheriffs office just left with some deputies this morning. They have just within the last week purchased and received an emergency response unit that is entirely self-contained and will support the staff they bring with them for two weeks. That means, food, water, electricity and communication.

I was without power for the longest amount of time in my life. For more than 24 hours. I honestly do not recall a time in my life going that long without electricity. Do any of you? It isn't fun. We have a generator, a small one. It kept our freezer running, a lamp, fan and radio. We did eventually switch over to the freezer, TV and DVD player (no cable) for a little while last night. I don't like that and can't imagine going the two weeks Rusty did without power after Ivan. He didn't have a generator then, he bought this one for my birthday because I was so scared for the Tropical Storm we were going to have. A Tropical Storm is like a heavy rainshower with some wind. No big deal, but that wasn't my point, being without electricity was. I cannot even begin to comprehend what LA and Miss will have to contend with now. 80% of Miss. is without power right now. 80% of New Orleans is underwater.

Of course one of my greatest fears is a serious threat in New Orleans now. There are snakes and alligators displaced from their homes floating and running all around that city. It will be hot and wet for weeks. Those critters will take up residence in homes, trees, debris that is dark and hasn't been touched in awhile. One of my worst nightmares - next to drowning.

I am glad I had the opportunity to visit New Orleans a few weeks ago. Rusty and I had thought about meeting my friends Lexi and Brian there over Labor Day weekend. Lexi is from there and most of her family is still there. She has had contact with some friends and family but is still waiting to hear from the rest. It was a beautiful, cool city. You hear negatives about it, but I thought it was great. So much history and such a great vibe there. Sounds cheesy to say but it is true, New York has a vibe, D.C. has a vibe and so does New Orleans. Every city does, there is even a difference in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

OK I am rambling. Mostly I want to stay out of the way of Rusty and his two friends, Jason and Robbie. They are all great but get silly and a little obnoxious when all together. I am hungry though and we will hopefully eat soon - eat whatever Robbie could find at the grocery store. Many shelves were empty and so was the meat department. I guess a lot of people stocked up on ice and grilling meats assuming we would be out of power for longer than we were.

Take care all and be grateful for every day you have your family and home in sound condition (I know, I like to lecture).

b